by Zoe Chant
Magnus nodded.
He was tired, but Alanna’s enthusiasm was infectious.
The fight with the manticore, the meeting with Alanna’s father... both had been draining. Despite the fact Alanna had not been forced to choose between her mate and her family, it had taken many long hours after the man had left for the churning tension in Magnus’s stomach to dissipate.
Even now, comfortable and safe in one of the large guest bedrooms of Stefan and Holly’s home, he still felt uneasy, his stomach balled into a knot.
There were still so many unanswered questions: who Benedict had been working with, and how many members of the Loric Coven were involved. Why a manticore, of all creatures, had been helping them. How much trouble Carlyle would have in rooting out the ones who had plotted against him.
As if sensing this, Alanna rested her hand on his shoulder, gently squeezing. Despite the fact that the last few days hadn’t been any less wearying for Alanna, Magnus could feel calming warmth spread through his body from her touch.
Magnus’s breath caught as he raised his hand to cover hers where it sat on his shoulder.
And then, I’ll know who I am, where I came from. Then, I’ll be able to go home.
“And if even if we can’t...” Alanna trailed off, swallowing. “Which is obviously the worst case scenario, is there any chance you might recover more of your memory?”
Magnus exhaled slowly. The pendant Hadrian Carlyle had given him was warm against his chest. It seemed to buzz with a faint energy, but so far, it hadn’t helped him remember anything more of his past.
“It’s possible,” he said. Despite himself, he felt disappointed. The pendant was a treasure, and to even have one piece of his hoard back was more than he had ever dared hope for.
“It’s only been a few hours,” Alanna said, leaning into his side. “We can’t give up yet, Magnus. Even if my father finds nothing in our systems, we’ll find a way to get you home.”
For so long, Magnus hadn’t allowed himself to hope for anything. But now, with her by his side...
A happy future seems possible.
Magnus closed his eyes, simply feeling Alanna’s warmth by his side.
“How are you doing?” he asked her after a moment or two, turning to her and taking his hand in hers.
“I’m... fine. No – better than fine. No – I...” She frowned, shaking her head. “I don’t know how to describe how I feel,” she finally settled on. “It’s weird. My father has been Lord High Hunter for almost as long as I can remember. I wouldn’t say that I thought he didn’t care about me, but he was never there, either. He was always so distant. And I was always so terrified of disappointing him. I mean, I loved him, but I...”
Alanna shook her head again. Magnus could sense her confusion, and how much trouble she was having sorting through her feelings.
It’s okay, he sent to her. You don’t have to explain. Just be.
Alanna leaned into him even further, and Magnus raised his arms, winding one around her shoulders while the other cradled her head against his chest.
We don’t have to think about this now, he told her gently, as she wrapped her own arms around his waist. It’s been a long day. Right now, the only thing we need to worry about is resting. Everything else can wait.
Alanna nodded, before stifling a yawn against his chest.
“I am pretty tired,” she admitted, squeezing her arms around him. “But even so, I could definitely go to bed right about now.”
“Me too,” Magnus said – but then he caught the mischievous glimmer in Alanna’s eyes.
Oh – you mean go to bed.
Silly. What did you think I meant?
Magnus couldn’t help but laugh, even as warmth immediately began to gather at his groin.
After the day they had had – after everything they had both been through – he couldn’t think of anything he wanted to do more than lose himself in his mate.
Alanna stood on tip-toes, seeking his lips with hers, and Magnus didn’t have any will to tease her.
Instead, he simply ducked his head, crushing their lips together, feeling sparks of desire leap from her body to his.
Alanna...
She was everything he needed, he thought, as he felt her fingers fumbling at his back, pulling at the t-shirt he was wearing. Even if the Loric Coven couldn’t tell him anything about himself, and even if it took a long time for his memories to return, being with her would restore his mind eventually. Their bond ensured that. Just it as could heal their bodies, it would also heal his mind.
I’m here, Alanna sent back to him, as she broke the kiss briefly to lift his shirt over his head. I’ll always be here. With you.
And I’ll always be with you, Magnus replied as he captured her mouth once more in a searing kiss, the warmth in his chest and the tightness at his groin growing nearly unbearable.
Alanna gasped as he broke the kiss – and then gasped again as he bent at the knees, scooping her up in his arms. She laughed, the sound sending a ripple of pleasure through his nerves as he lifted her bridal-style and began carrying her across the room to the bed.
“My, what a big strong dragon you are,” she teased gently, letting her fingers play along his jaw. “I could get used to this.”
Magnus groaned deep in his chest. Protectiveness wound through him. Alanna had always known a life of striving to be the best, of seeing those around her as rivals rather than friends. No one had looked out for her or protected her – except perhaps Benedict, and now even he had been revealed as undeserving of the trust and respect Alanna had placed in him.
I will look after you, Magnus promised her silently as he placed her down on the bed, their lips locked together. Never again will you feel alone. Never again will you feel you only have yourself to rely on.
Magnus pulled back slightly, looking down at Alanna as she lay beneath him. Her cheeks were flushed, her short black hair framing the perfect oval of her face, her stormy gray eyes gazing up at his face.
“Magnus...” she breathed, her voice filled with longing. Her hand drifted up, fingers fumbling with the buckle of his belt. “Don’t make me wait...”
He groaned again as her fingers brushed against the hardness pressing against the front of his pants. He couldn’t have made her wait even if he’d wanted to. Urgency rose up within him, desire taking over his body.
She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life – and she was his.
And I am hers.
She pushed his pants down over his hips as he leaned down over her once more, fingers undoing the buttons of the shirt she was wearing. He fumbled, before finally losing patience them and simply tearing the shirt open, too desperate to feel her skin against his to care.
Alanna gasped, but if she minded about the blouse, it certainly didn’t show – instead, she pulled him down to her, pressing herself against him, sparks racing between them.
The lush curves of her breasts pressed against his bare chest as they kissed again, tongues twining. Magnus’s hand found her nipple through the fabric of her bra, and he gently caressed it, drawing a moan of pleasure from her lips.
Oh God! Do that again...
Alanna’s voice in his head only increased his own pleasure as he pressed himself against her, her legs parting around his hips.
She writhed beneath him, arching up off the bed as he dropped his lips from her mouth to her neck, biting and nibbling his way down her throat, her neck, her collarbone.
He tasted the salt of her sweat and the clean, fresh taste of her skin, felt the flutter of her pulse beneath his tongue. Closing his eyes, Magnus lost himself in her, letting her taste, her scent, her touch overwhelm his senses.
Alanna...
His hand slipped down to her hips, pushing down the gray sweats she had borrowed from Holly. They were a few sizes too big and slipped from her hips easily – aided, no doubt, by the fact that Alanna helpfully arched her hips beneath him. In a moment, her panties joined them, puddl
ed on the floor by the side of the bed.
Magnus gasped at how wet she was when his fingers made their way between her legs, marveling at the way she squirmed, moaning, as he stroked her.
“That feels... so good...” she whispered as his fingers circled around her entrance. She shuddered, biting her lip when his thumb glided over her clit, before he lowered his head to her breasts, taking one nipple gently between his teeth.
“Magnus...!”
The sound of Alanna crying out his name made his blood throb in his veins, hardening his already stiff cock even further.
God.
He wanted to listen to her breathy pants forever, wanted to keep her here on the edge of the precipice of pleasure indefinitely while she bucked and moaned on the bed beneath him, but he knew that he wanted her too badly for that.
He couldn’t wait any longer.
And nor, it seemed, could Alanna.
“Magnus... Magnus please...” she begged, pressing herself against him, parting her legs.
Overwhelmed, Magnus found he could only nod, and at last give in to her demands. He shifted, finding her entrance, and pressed forward, sliding into her with one smooth, strong thrust.
They gasped together as he moved within her, Alanna’s fingers digging into the hard muscle of his shoulders. Magnus felt her clench around him and let out a groan as pleasure raced through him, sparks shooting up his spine at the feel of her around him.
Claim her. Claim her. She is ours, and we are hers.
He knew that until he had found his hoard, he could not claim her as a dragon should – he could not crown her with gold and jewels, make her the queen he knew she was.
But for now, he thought as he kissed her fiercely, this would be enough.
In their hearts, they belonged to one another.
And in this moment, that was all that mattered.
They cried out, their voices one, as he made his first thrust inside her. White-hot ecstasy spiraled through his body as they moved together, their bodies joined.
He could hear himself as he repeated her name over and over again as he drove himself forward, hear her crying out every time he thrust into her hot core.
Her lips found his, her tongue sweeping into his mouth with desperately, as if she wanted to be joined to him even further than she was already as together, they surged toward the peak of their pleasure.
My mate, he sent to her, as his mind grew hazy, unable to think clearly anymore through the haze of his pleasure.
And mine, she sent back, clenching her thighs around him. My mate. Mine...
Sparks spiraled over Magnus’s vision, his heartbeat thundering in his ears as he thrust forward one final time. At last, a wave of pleasure crashed over them both, their voices mingling in a frantic cry of ecstasy.
Magnus closed his eyes, losing himself to it – losing all sense of everything except his body and Alanna’s beneath him, as his climax shook him down to core.
He was not sure how much time passed before he became aware of the world outside their joined minds again, only that the sweat had cooled somewhat on their bodies, and his heartbeat had begun to slow to a normal pace.
With a groan, he rolled away, slipping reluctantly from Alanna’s body to lie next to her on the bed.
She immediately moved to snuggle up close to his side, her breath warm against his chest.
“That... that was...” Alanna said, her breath still heavy in her throat.
Sleepily, Magnus moved his head down to kiss the top of her head.
“Yeah, it was,” was all he could find within himself to say. What word could he used to describe it, anyway?
Amazing, wonderful, incredible, better than anything I could ever have imagined... None of them really seemed adequate to describe how Alanna made him feel.
But that wasn’t exactly what he wanted to say, anyway.
“You,” he murmured, as he breathed in the scent of her hair. “It’s you, Alanna. You’re amazing. You’re...you’re...” He grimaced, frustrated. “I don’t have the words to tell you what you mean to me.”
It’s okay, Alanna sent to him as she raised her head to kiss him. I don’t either. But I know what you mean all the same.
They kissed sleepily, her hand resting against his stomach, his playing through her short black hair.
And I promise, we will find where you belong.
Magnus could only bring himself to nod in reply, before Alanna dropped her head back to his shoulder, her fingers stroking comforting over his stomach.
Gratitude flooded him, and he hoped she could feel it through their mated bond.
With her, he knew that eventually they would find his clan. If there was one thing he had learned about his mate, it was that she never, ever gave up, not even when things seemed beyond hope.
I love you, he sent to her, as he gently covered her bare shoulder with a blanket, kissing the top of her head once more.
Her answering, And I love you too, was the last thing he heard before he drifted into sleep.
Chapter Seventeen
Alanna
Two months later
“We’re here.” Magnus’s voice was soft but resolute as they stood together on the side of a rough mountain trail. The wind whipped around them, tugging at their clothes and snatching his words away the moment they left his lips.
Alanna glanced up at him. His face looked just as resolute as his voice had sounded. But still, she thought she could see the tiniest amount of doubt in his eyes.
“Are you ready for this?”
Magnus paused before answering, gazing out over the vast mountain peaks.
“Yes,” he said at last. “I am. I’ve been ready for a while now.”
Reaching beneath his shirt, he pulled out the pendant he’d been given by her father, the part of his hoard he’d been wearing when he’d been captured. He closed his fist around it.
I feel it, Magnus said, as he closed his eyes. I don’t know how to explain. It’s like pure energy racing through my veins...
The Loric Coven had been able to recover some useful information about Magnus’s past – where he had been captured, how long ago, as well as being able to track down the pendant in its vaults. But whoever had erased the information in his file had known what they were doing, and anything more than that was totally irrecoverable.
Together, Alanna and Magnus had used the meager information provided by the coven as well the fragments of information collected from Magnus’s dreams to theorize where he might find his clan.
His home.
But now, standing together here in the midst of the Carpathian Mountains...
... Will we find what we’ve come here to search for? Alanna thought, biting her lip. And if we do, what will Magnus’s clan be like?
As much as it pained her to admit it now, there was still a need for dragon hunters in the world.
Some dragon clans, such as the Novaks, had determined many years ago that they needed to live in peace with humans – but they were not the only kinds of clans that existed.
The Novaks knew that first hand, having almost been wiped out in a blood feud with the Lukich Clan. Stefan, his cousin Marko, Isaak and Darklis were some of the few Novak dragons left in the world now. The rest had all been killed – wiped from the face of the earth.
Not all dragon clans were nice.
And even if Magnus’s clan does turn out to be one of the good ones... how are they going to react to the fact that his mate is a dragon hunter?
Alanna couldn’t blame them if they turned out not to be particularly happy about that at all.
It wasn’t that Magnus was concerned he wouldn’t be able to shift, in order to fly them up to the location they’d guessed might be the one from his dream.
What was worrying him was what they might find when they got there.
“We don’t have to do this now,” Alanna blurted out, squeezing his hand with hers. “I know this is something you’ve been waiting for for a long time,
but we can take things as slow as you need to. We can make camp, give you a night to think it over...”
She trailed off as Magnus slowly shook his head. “No. This is something I have to do now,” he said. “Putting it off won’t make things any easier. It’ll be the same worries, the same fears, just on a different day.”
Alanna nodded. She understood that. She was no good at putting things off either. If something needed to be done, she preferred to get it over quickly. What good did stewing about it do? Action was what was needed.
Of course, she sent to him, looking up into his blue eyes. When you’re ready, I’ll be here by your side.
Magnus took in a deep breath, closing his eyes.
I’m ready, Alanna. I’m ready.
Moving away from her, he steadied himself – and then hurled himself forward into the mountain air, over the ragged drop at the side of the mountain path.
Alanna caught her breath, but Magnus didn’t fall – instead, he shifted. Enormous black wings sprouted from his back to keep him aloft on the strong mountain winds; a long, sleek tail whipped out behind him. His hands and feet spread out, growing massive claws while his neck elongated, white defensive spines shooting up from his shoulders and head.
The only things about him that remained the same were his eyes: even in his new form, they stayed the same brilliant shade of bright blue.
Magnus beat his wings, steadying himself in the air, before he stretched out one huge foreleg toward her.
Alanna couldn’t help but grin as she ran forward, leaping onto his shoulder in a single bound. The drop below was terrifyingly steep with razor-sharp rocks at the bottom of it, but Alanna had never been afraid of heights.
She settled herself comfortably on Magnus’s shoulders, hanging on tightly to his spines.
Let’s go!
She had ridden on his back many times before now, when he’d been experimenting to make sure the small artifact from his hoard really did work like everyone said it would. But she didn’t think she’d ever get used to the thrill of feeling Magnus’s powerful body beneath her, lifting them up into the sky, carrying them swiftly high above the earth.
